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Vatnabyggð
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HISTORY OF THE VATNABYGGÐ ICELANDIC SETTLEMENT There were two waves of Icelandic settlement to and within Saskatchewan. The first group came directly from Iceland, paused briefly in Winnipeg, then moved on to Saskatchewan. The second group trekked north and west from older settlements in North Dakota and Manitoba.
The Vatnabyggð area stretches along Highway 16 from about Dafoe to east of Foam Lake and north around the Quill Lakes, Fishing Lake and Foam Lake (now Foam Lake Marsh.) Vatnabyggð runs about 80 km along Highway 16 and at its widest is about along Highway 16 and at its widest point, west of Foam Lake, it is about 30 km wide. Settlement was from east to west, following the development of the railway. The Icelanders came from Thingvalla, looking for hay and found a supply at Foam Lake. Ingimundur Eiriksson (always called Ingi, signed himself I. E. Inge, and his house is the big old one near the Foam Lake Marsh viewing tower) and Christjan J. Helgason set out in the summer of 1891 to find suitable land when the Thingvalla settlers realized they were in a dry area. (Thingvalla, northeast of Churchbridge, was settled in 1885 and is considered the first Icelandic settlement in Saskatchewan.) These settlers had herds of sheep and cattle and, given the drought, they were worried about hay. Helgason and Ingi travelled about 115 miles, to Fishing Lake. These were dry years, but Fishing Lake was still a big lake with hay on the south and poplar bluffs with trees large enough for logs for barns and homes. The following spring, 1892, three families and a bachelor headed for Fishing Lake, arriving on June 27, 1892. They were Ingi, his wife Steinunn and his mother Gróa, Gislí and Valgerður Bildfell, Bjarni and Guðrún Jasonson, and Lafrans Johnson. In the fall they were joined by Sveinn and Guðrún Halldórson and Stefan and Guðrún Ólafson. They built one house and one stable, log buildings with sod roofs. The house held nine adults and six children. A part of the stable was set aside for the Ólafsons. The site of the first house is on Bill Paulson's land, between Foam Lake and Fishing Lake, off Hwy 310, about four miles from Foam Lake Marsh. The settlers brought their cattle and put up hay for the winter. A prairie fire swept through and burned all the hay. In looking for hay meadows, they came upon a large meadow full of hay - Foam Lake - at that time completely dry. They cut the hay and, to haul it in the winter, had to make canvas sack stockings for the oxen. In 1885, another prairie fire raged through the area. The settlers saved their buildings but decided to move to the edge of the hay meadow. By 1894, they had all left Fishing Lake. Within a few years, the hay meadow became Foam Lake lake again. Christjan Helgason had gone to White Sand River but by 1897 he decided to rejoin the Foam Lake group and brought his wife's parents, Jóhannes and Lilja Bjarnason. The official location of the first school, as described by Bill Paulson: It's NE 36 - 31 - 12, near the Bertdale site at the marsh. The school was built in 1899, logs with a shingle roof and hand made desks and seats. The young Icelanders on the west side of the lake had a seven mile trip to school by horse. It was too far. They sailed across the lake instead. Icelanders quickly moved to Kristnes (near Fishing Lake), Leslie, Mt. Hecla, Valhalla and Hólar districts, south of Highway 16. They settled in Elfros in 1903 There was a steady increase in the Icelandic population Families came to Mozart, north of Highway 16, between Elfros and Wynyard (Mozart is the only town named after the composer - all the streets are also named after composers) and to Wynyard in 1904 and continued west to Kandahar and Dafoe.
Icelanders became community leaders, merchants and farmers. The first Overseer of the Village of Foam Lake (1909) was an Icelander. Many of the Reeves and Councillors of the R.M. of Elfros were Icelandic. Founder of the Vatnabyggð Club, Eric Stephanson, served many years as Mayor of Elfros. The first Icelanders were not natural farmers. They were poets, musicians, and visionaries, people who saw work as a means to an end. Icelandic communities became cultural centres with bands, choirs and libraries. Icelanders built community halls. Many early one-roomed schools in the Vatnabyggð area carried Icelandic names. The Unitarian Church in Wynyard, a regional heritage site, was originally an Icelandic Lutheran Church built in 1921 for a congregation that had been established in 1906. Services are still conducted at the church, though not on a regular basis.
The Icelanders who came to Saskatchewan became competent farmers but they saw the land as a means to improve conditions both for themselves and for their children. Aware of the value of family and community, they left a legacy of art and literacy, music and social responsibility. . |
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